Netanyahu names new NSC head, one of few not from intelligence community

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday named Brig.-Gen. (res.) Avriel Bar-Yosef as head of the National Security Council.

Bar-Yosef, 61, replaces Yossi Cohen, who left the job in December to become head of the Mossad. Bar-Yosef served as deputy head of the National Security Council from 2009 until mid-2015. As such he served under all three of Netanyahu’s NSC heads: Uzi Arad, Yaakov Amidror and Cohen.

Before coming to the NSC, Bar-Yosef was the director of the Knesset’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee from 2004-2009. He retired from the IDF after 25 years, his last position being head of naval operations-equipment.